“These findings include the first full night of surveying following the president’s State of the Union speech to Congress,” it added.

“The latest figures include 37% who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing and 42% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -5.”

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Those numbers are now even, with 39 percent both strongly approving and strongly disapproving.

That’s higher than the numbers President Obama had at the same point during his presidency.

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According to the Rasmussen polling data from Obama’s presidency, on Feb. 11, 2011, Obama had a similar 50-49 approval rating, just slightly under Trump’s.

However, the data show that Obama’s strongly approve/strongly disapprove numbers were much worse.

Twenty-seven percent of Americans surveyed strongly approved of the job that then-President Obama was doing at the time, compared to 35 percent who strongly disapproved, giving him a presidential approval rating of -8.

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And keep in mind, Trump is maintaining this approval in spite of endless attacks from Democrats and the mainstream media, particularly over the potential for another government shutdown.

So, what’s the takeaway here, aside from the fact that we’re not going to hear a lot about the Rasmussen poll from the mainstream media?

First, Trump’s State of the Union speech was a lot bigger of a hit than most people in the media seemed to have thought it was. The general thought was that most people were going to look at the controversial elements of the speech, especially when he talked about the Mueller investigation.

However, viewers seem to have embraced the message Trump had for America, even if he was trashing the very hot philosophy of socialism.

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Second, it’s not exactly that much of a stretch to think that Trump is going to have about the same shot at getting re-elected that Barack Obama did. After all, the numbers are incredibly similar and things are trending well for the president.

That’s something a lot of Democratic challengers aren’t going to be too happy with — especially since this is what’s happening when Trump’s dealing with everything that the media can throw at him.

C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between America and Southeast Asia. He became a staunch right-winger at the age of three: While watching a clip of Ronald Reagan, he told his mother (to her great horror), "Mom, I'm a Republican." Except for a brief, scarring and inexplicable late high-school dalliance with Ralph Nader and his ilk, he's never looked back.
Aside from politics, he enjoys literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, jazz, spending time with his wife, drinking coffee and watching Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties). He is the proud owner of a very lazy West Highland white terrier and an extraordinary troublesome poodle mix of indeterminate provenance. His proudest accomplishments include reading the entirety of Thomas Pynchon's published oeuvre.